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Monday, November 7, 2011

Sony's 'Tough Year'

2011 is supposed to be the Year of the Alpha! Sony is the only camera manufacturer that launched more cameras than their competitors.

The A65/A77, NEX5N/NEX-7.  These cameras are a class on their own.  I am guessing that these aggressive approach of Sony is paying off.  I have never heard so much buzz (good and bad) on the internet forums that I follow.  Finally, Sony can take another chunk at the market share of Canon and Nikon and maybe even Pentax.

photo taken from Bangkok Post
BUT nature doesn't want to cooperate with Sony. First there was the Tsunami disaster.  I don't know if this has delayed the release of these cameras but I am certain it has an effect one way or another. Then the final blow, typhoons and monsoon rain.  Sony manufactures their NEX cameras from Thailand and the flooding crisis have basically wiped-out the whole Sony Factory.  We are not just talking about finished cameras, ready to be shipped out.  Even the machineries that makes them are basically gone.  Just look at the picture below;  I bet underneath all that water are billions of dollars worth of electronic equipment.   Especially when the holiday season is just a month away, imagine all the sales / promotions that Sony will miss because there are no confirmed delivery dates yet for the NEX-7.  

Sony's competitors on the other hand have now got time on their hand to manufacture/launch a rival product.  Competition is good for consumers and I for one would want fierce competition to drive prices below, but just this once, I was really hoping that Sony will be very close to Canon and Nikon when it comes to market share.

The most important thing for now is that we get those people back to work and hope that Thailand can recover from this disaster in the earliest time.  

2012 is just around the corner and hopefully this will be a good year for Sony and all of us.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Video 'Cropping' on NEX-5N

I have been doing a lot of googling to find out if someone has posted an approximate value on how much the video gets cropped on the NEX / SLT cameras.  Even emailed Sony Australia but because of the current situation (Thailand flooding) and an all-out marketing campaign on the current SLT/NEX cameras, no one has gotten back to me.  So I tried doing my own test using my NEX-5.  

I just saw this on the manual of the NEX-5N.  It is true then that what you see isn't what you get when you shoot videos using the NEX-5N.  Is this a bad feature? No, it is not.  I think one of the reason this is happening is to keep the aspect ration to 16:9.  In fact, NEX users has the advantage of actually seeing the grid where the video would fit compared to the SLT cameras.  I have friends who have tested it on their A55 and it does happen but it doesn't have any of the 'corner' markings compared to the NEX-5N.

NEX-5N User Manual

So, next time you are shooting videos with your NEX, be sure to check the grid first so you know that the scene you want to capture is all in the frame.

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